Morrison, age 13, of Dodge City, Kan., for his question:
HOW IS SORGHUM USED?
Sorghum is the name for a group of tropical grasses. Farmers grow sorghum for forage, syrup, grain and broom fiber.
There are four main groups of sorghum: grain sorghums, sweat sorghums, grassy sorghums and broomcorn. Originally the plants came from Africa and Asia but today about 20 million acres of sorghum are planted in
the United States each year.'
Grain sorghum is a cereal food plant extensively used for forage. In Africa and Asia today it still is used for flour and breakfast foods.
Sorghums were introduced into the United States during the late 1800s. They are grown chiefly in the arid regions of the southern Great Plains as well as in Arizona and California. The plants easily resist heat and drought.
The grain sorghums bear small, round, starch seeds in compact masses on a single stalk. Six kinds grow in the United States: durra, feterita, kafir, milo, kaoliang and shallu.
The common varieties of sorghum have thick, solid stalks and look like corn plants. The grain is used often as a substitute for corn in feeding animals. Sometimes the entire plant is turned into silage.
Some grain sorghums grow to be 15 feet tall. Plant breeders have produced other varieties that grow from two to four feet tall that can be harvested with grain combines.
Sweet sorghums, or sorgos have sweet, juicy stems. They are grown especially for the production of sorghum syrup although animal feed and silage can also be made from them.
Grassy sorghums are used for green feed and hay. Sudan grass is a tall annual sorghum with thick stalks. It grows quickly and may reach 10 feet in height. It serves as excellent summer pasturage.
Broomcorn is a kind of sorghum grown for the brush or branches of the seed clusters.
Syrup is made from sweet sorghums by pressing the juice out of the stems with rollers. The liquid is then boiled down to the proper thickness.
Johnson grass is a perennial grassy sorghum. You'll find it growing as a weed in many parts of the southern United States. It resembles Sudan grass, but it spreads by creeping rootstocks.
Johnson grass is a pest on land needed for cotton and other row crops. But it makes excellent cattle feed or hay.
Sudan grass was introduced into the United States by the Department of Agriculture in 1909 from Khartoum, Sudan. It was first tested in Texas and gave excellent results.
Eventually Sudan grass was planted by farmers on vast areas of land in the South and the Southwest. It has since spread to nearly all parts of the country. It is one of the best drought resisting plants known to the American farmer.
Sudan grass has a fibrous root system. It is an annual, which means that seed must be planted every year. Farmers grow the grass for stock feed and for its seed.